


Wish You Were Here

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Keith (Voltron), Alternate Universe, Beaches, M/M, Summer, Swimming, Trans Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 20:17:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20395552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: Summer is coming to an end, and Shiro is still thinking about the half-Galra who rescued him.





	Wish You Were Here

**Author's Note:**

> A very late submission for Sheith Summer week! Prompt was "night swim" although I took liberties with that! I've been busy with bangs and other RL matters, but I figured I'd get this posted before summer's officially done for in this part of the world! ♥️

Summer was drawing to a close. His father and mother call for them a short distance behind. Just a few more minutes, his younger brother Ryou yells back, who had been fussing with the space-castle he had built with his older brother. Shiro is thankful for it, if only so that it’ll allow him a little longer to try and reach Keith. 

As if to make his intent known to the entire universe, Shiro digs his toes into the sand and looks out into the night sky. 

Coming here was their father’s idea. Said it would do them all good. Ever since Shiro’s return from his solo mission, everyone has been on edge. No one had thought he was alive after communications with ground control had gone silent, for one thing. Another, when he did somehow return, scarred up, his hair partially white, missing an arm, he had tales that had immediately cost him his career. 

“The SETI Institute has sent out signals for years,” his mother Takara had said gently yet firmly to Shiro as though he were five years old. “They’ve never received a reply. There aren’t any aliens near us, Takashi.”

“Then how did I survive?” Shiro had challenged. “They’re out there, I’m telling you! He saved me—the signals! They have to stop sending signals! The Galra will find us! If you know what they’ve done to me—!”

Feeling a gust of wind against his cheek, the night air carrying the faint crisp hint of the approaching autumn, Shiro pulls out his phone. He sends another text to the number—it’s too long for any phone number on Earth, his family had informed him countless times before, but he’s never received an error message. 

He’s never received a response from his savior either, but somehow he knows Keith is reading them. He wonders where out there are the Galra fleets and the cruisers and fighters he had seen during his time in outer space. Of course, people on Earth still call them UFOs, but nothing Shiro had seen resembled the cute metallic dinner plates. As he can easily identify them and to who they belong, they’re no longer “unidentified flying objects” to him. 

He lays on the sand and contemplates the skies. It’s a gorgeous vast black dome, like a thick canopy, hole-punched, where behind it is a light so blindly bright it’s a mercy that most of it is veiled from view. 

Shiro chuckles. He used to imagine silly things like this when he was younger. When space wasn’t so scary. 

That star could actually be Keith’s ship, he tells himself. But he knows his astronomy. Still, it is a beautiful star—oh, if only Keith could see the constellations from this angle! 

_Wish you were here, Keith._

He could try to signal Keith with the light on his phone, if only he knew where to direct his phone to. 

He grins to himself. Now he’s just being silly! 

Shiro can feel his father’s eyes on him, but he doesn’t care. He gets back up to his feet and regards the ocean. 

The scene before him is beautiful. If only Keith could witness Earth’s splendor for himself, the end of summer, witness the steady change of seasons for himself, immerse himself in his father’s side of his heritage. 

_I wish you were here._

Keith had told Shiro he was part-human as he had patched him up though he had never lived there. 

“You should,” Shiro had said. “See the planet your father was from.” 

Shiro smiles at the memory as he glances down at his right. 

“_Sorry, I can’t do much for your arm_,” Keith’s words echoes in his memory. 

Shiro inches closer to the water and studies its beautiful surface. The tide kisses up to his toes. 

“Takashi,” Admiral Hayato Shirogane calls out. “Come here, son.” 

Shiro looks back and smiles sadly at the admiral. He knows his father is only worried for him, but…

“I’m going for a swim, Dad,” Shiro says. 

Hayato steps forward, and Shiro doesn’t miss the nervous tick in his voice. “We should head back. It’s getting late.” 

“I’m fine, Dad,” Shiro insists. “Just one more swim.” 

He peers out into the cosmic sea, thinks of Keith and plunges in. The icy waters press against his ears, drowning out his father’s words. 

Black. The star glitter high above, but the shimmery surface ripples like a veil above him. He’s peaceful here, and his heart aches.

Closing his eyes, Shiro gives in to the tranquil darkness. Alarm doesn’t take hold of him. There is no need for fear nor fright nor despair. Faith and hope fill him instead and a sense that the entire universe has wrapped itself within him. 

He thinks he hears a commotion—his mother’s voice, perhaps?—but he doesn’t look up. It’s a bit pointless, as he can’t see a thing beyond the surface. 

Suddenly the surface of the ocean breaks in a flurry of white as something plunges through and makes its way to him. Shiro can do nothing more than watch, his eyes barely able to discern the shape of the beast or person or—

There is a light. It’s faint, but the glow is around the newcomer, faint and soft, lavender in color, as the person approaches. 

Gripping Shiro’s chin, Keith’s soft lips are soon on his and remains there. The ocean melds and plays with Keith’s long locks; his hair twists into hypnotic waves behind his head in the purple light, beautiful and alien. They keep to their position, upside down, lost in the much-missed lips and closeness of one another. 

Finally when they pull back, Shiro is surprised to feel a thick presence against his lips. It grows until it wraps around his entire head—a bubble, allowing himself a chance to breathe freely, deeply, underwater. Keith himself is wearing such a device: thin yet durable.

“Don’t ever frighten me like that again,” Keith says. He squeezes Shiro’s arms, and Shiro laughs, and he is sure his laughter carries throughout the ocean. 

“Is that what it’ll take to bring you here?” Shiro asks and he pulls Keith against him for another kiss. “Happy you’re here—just in time to see what summer on Earth are like! Come meet my family!”

**Author's Note:**

> Song title (also repeated in the fic) comes from the song "Wish You Were Here" by Incubus. I also allude to the song a couple more times (digging toes into the sand, signalling UFOs with his lighter--well, phone).


End file.
